You
could say that theyd already had a honeymoon -- that is, if you
want to use the word loosely. After their marriage last November, Jim
and his bride Joyce Bulifant were off to the West Indies -- for all of
three days. They had wanted three weeks -- or even three months. There
was so much to do and so much to talk about. They already had had one
separation during their engagement period. That was a necessity when Jim
was abroad making Third
Man on the Mountain. On their honeymoon they wanted time to catch
up. But there was no time. Jim was due back to New York to star in Far
Away the Train Birds Cry. It was an important play. It was his big
chance. So they rushed home. Joyce was signed for a role in Tall Story.
She thought it would be fun being in a play at the same time as Jim. It
would be something to keep her busy between eight and eleven p.m. It wasnt
that she had any serious plans of becoming an actress -- but she enjoyed
doing it and Jim got a kick out of her enjoyment. So what happens? Joyce
gets tied up with Tall Story and Jim finds out that Far Away
the Train Birds Cry has been postponed. Indefinitely. His agents,
who labor under the theory that love is wonderful and all that but ten
per cent of a clients love is nothing, came forth with an assignment
on the Desilu Playhouse.
The only thing wrong with that was that Desilu is filmed in Hollywood
-- and Jim spent what could have been three weeks of precious honeymoon
time alone in a bachelor apartment at the Chateau Marmont. Meanwhile,
back in New York -- Joyce used the same three weeks to find an apartment
that was anything but bachelor-style. She signed the lease hoping to surprise
her groom, then became scared to death that hed disapprove of her
aggressive act. When I came home and discovered the new apartment
had a dishwashing machine -- all was forgiven, says Jim. Furnishing
the new place was no problem. Jims mother Helen Hayes had given
up her New York apartment and had a warehouse full of things from which
the young MacArthurs could pick. And pick they did. Wonderful lamps and
chairs and all kinds of priceless knick-knacks. Despite the fact that
Joyce had to work in the evenings -- there was no domestic discord. Heres
a gal born to be wed. A good cook, a wonderful manager. Let a grocery
clerk try to put anything over on her re weights and measures or quality
and quantity and he is always caught red-handed in the act, says
Jim proudly. There was only one slight note of sadness in the MacArthur
menage: the absence of a real honeymoon. Then thoses unromantic agents
finally proved they had a heart too. Jim was signed by Walt Disney to
make Kidnapped, to be
filmed in Scotland, and from Scotland his working schedule was to take
him to Tobago for
Swiss Family Robinson. Included in the contract were provisions
for one bride. According to Jim: We were handed what amounts to
a whole years vacation. And with all expenses paid! You can
see it was well worth waiting for.